Lots to do!

Let me start by announcing that I'm officially in my 3rd and LAST year of PT school! :D SSSooooooo excited! It was a rough semester for me, especially the last month or so. I was really starting to lose steam and just get bogged down with the stress that accompanies PT school, but my classmates got me through it. They're amazing. There's something to be said for the camaraderie that develops between people who experience something intense together. We truly understand what each other is going through, and we know that no one else can understand it the way that we do. We're a team. The last few weeks have really driven that home for me, and I feel so blessed to be a Double Stick.

With this latest accomplishment comes a bit of a reprieve: 2 weeks of no school! Woo-hoo! It'll definitely be a busy couple of weeks, for which I am super pumped. My little sister graduates from college on Saturday, Tim and I have our 8 year anniversary, and I'm going to NYC for a few days with my sister, my future sister-in-law, and my mom! I'm very much looking forward to sight-seeing and meeting up with family and old friends. I also have a lot of wedding planning to do during the break while I have time to really delve into things. My goals: book the venues, update our wedding website (AnaAndTim.ourwedding.com), and possibly take some engagement pictures. We know where we want the reception to be, we're just a bit unsure about the ceremony venue. I'm planning on tricking my mom into going to look at them with me... ;) I'm not sure if the engagement pictures will happen before school starts again due to Tim's work schedule conflicting with my fun schedule, but we have the whole summer before I head to Atlanta for the fall for clinicals, so I'm not too worried about it; although, I'd like to do it sooner rather than later so it's not so terribly hot.... well, hotter.

I got my really cute appetizer plates that I ordered from Southern Living At Home! They're adorable!! And they're in my colors! :)

I ♥ Macy's!

Over the last few months I've been starting to think about what kinds of things to register for. Tim lives on his own, and I did while in undergrad, so we already have some things, but I've been trying to fill in the gaps of what's missing and what really should just be replaced. I know that I have plenty of time to work through this before I need to actually put together a registry, so I've been focusing a little more on trying to choose styles, themes, patterns, etc. One thing that I keep coming back to is china. 


Surprisingly, Tim has had a lot of input about our everyday china. For the most part, Tim is the typical "You figure it out and tell me when to show up" groom, so I really enjoy when some random aspect of wedding planning catches his attention. Even if it is the shape of the dinner plates. Tim has taken a very strong Anti-Circular Plates stance in preference of square plates. :) Too cute. I think we're going with stoneware for our everyday china... something in a pretty blue or green maybe?

As for our fine china... I found a pattern that I thought I liked (Waterford - Alana), but I couldn't find it in any stores here. When I asked a salesperson at Bed Bath & Beyond about it, he said that they're not carrying it in the stores anymore because it didn't sell very well. He also was able to describe what it looks like in person to me, which is important because the same picture can look different on every computer screen. From his description (and a few other people's corroboration of it) I decided against choosing it. So I decided to let it rest for a while and I would search more later. Then, when I was waiting for Voltron to be done at the groomer's, I stepped into Bed Bath & Beyond to kill some time and I came across a china pattern that caught my eye.  In addition to being beautiful in person, they had a 40-piece 8 person setting that was on sale for half its price! This definitely piqued my interest. So, being the nerd that I am, I researched customer satisfaction ratings for this item. Everyone said great things about it! I wasn't sure if I should go ahead and purchase it now or if I should just wait and register for it and see what happens, so I asked a few family and friends about it and they encouraged me to go for it. A few days later, I got a Macy's advertisement in the mail for their one day sale that priced the same 40-piece set for even less! Coupled with a gift card that I got from my super-duper future sister-in-law (or in wedding chat talk: FSIL... haha..i'm a dork...) and a store credit my mom had, we ended up getting 8 settings for less than the price of 1! I couldn't be happier about this decision. I love every piece in this pattern, and am so excited to have gotten such a great deal on it!

So, here it is! Mikasa - Parchment in all it's glory. :)

I also went to my first Southern Living at Home party at my other FSIL's house, where I purchased some really cute appetizer plates they had in my wedding colors. Super excited to get those in! It's fun to start seeing things like this come together. Every little thing is like a reminder that this is actually happening and we're actually getting married. When I showed the china to my youngest brother, he said, "It's fancy. It's like Mom's plates." It was really funny to me to have a comparison made with my parents' wedding things... because they're adults. It's hard for me to feel like an "adult" a lot of the time because I'm still in school and still living with my parents, but sometimes the little things (like buying some plates) make me realize that I am an adult. And adult things are happening in my life. Like getting married. :) So so happy.

Spring Break - Woo-hoo!!

FINALLY!! I get a few days to not stress too much about school.  Of course I'll be spending quite a bit of time on my research and other school projects, but at least I can do that from home. (PS - I left my lunch box in the fridge at school, so I'm hoping no one throws it out.) I'm definitely looking forward to relaxing, shopping, maybe some tanning, and just catching up on life. As soon as school starts back I'll go back into my hole for a couple of intense weeks, so I'm hoping to make the most of my free time while I have it.

I think I've got the BM dress issue figured out -- I've even gotten my mother on board with the knee-length dresses! When I sent out the options to my bridesmaids a majority of them showed a preference for one particular dress and the others selected it as their second choice, so I'm pretty sure it's settled! This is super exciting (and relieving) to me. I'm still in the process of figuring out some accessories, but progress has been made! I'm soooo glad that we have so much time in which to decide everything because I can't imagine having only a few months to plan EVERYthing. I mean, it's taken me months of sifting through BM dresses to find one that would work!

I know it seems like I may be stressing too early about things that I have plenty of time to figure out, but my little sister/Maid of Honor is graduating from undergrad college in May (suma cum laude, of course!) and will be leaving for grad school either in June or August, depending on which school she chooses, so I really want her to be here while I plan at least the big things so that she can be a part of it. It'll be strange having her so far away since the closest school she applied to (and has already been accepted to) is NYU. We're so used to seeing each other a minimum of every other weekend, and we spend quite a bit of time on the phone, so it'll definitely be hard to try to plan such an important day without her right next to me. We share a brain. For real. If you've ever seen us together, you know what I mean. I ♥ her and I'll miss her tons.

In other news, Masters week is upon us. To those of use who live in Augusta, this means a minimum of 30 minutes longer to get into restaurants, traffic making a 15 minute drive into a 1.5 hour drive, crazy out-of-towners trying to cross Washington Road on foot while cars have the right-of-way, and general overpopulation of the entire city until the tournament is over. I plan to be a hermit and leave my house as little as possible until everything is back to normal. With the exception of wedding planning trips, of course! I have to choose a priest and meet with him for the "Go ahead" before I can set a date (yay for Catholic red tape, right?) so I'll be making the church rounds throughout the next few weeks to get an idea of different priest styles. Exciting stuff!!

Alright. Back to doing nothing. :)

Bridesmaid Dresses: the Search for the Holy Grail

I have looked at what feels like thousands upon thousands of bridesmaid dresses, searching for something that looks great on different body types, won't break the bank, and (most importantly) comes in my elusive dark champagne/latte/taupe/acorn/whatever color. My idea for the bridesmaid dresses was to choose a designer, a fabric, and a color and let the girls choose their own styles. This way, everyone has input on what she wears, but everyone still matches. The problem with this idea has been that the only dresses that come in the color I'm looking for tend to be way more expensive than ideal and most of them aren't very flattering. And so the search continues with a combination of websites, magazines, and random visits to dress shops.

On a spur-of-the-moment bridal shop trip, a few of my BMs (That's wedding talk for "bridesmaids". Do you like the new wedding lingo I'm picking up? hahaha..) tried on about 10 dresses that I had looked at online and thought would have met all the criteria. I was mostly wrong. The dresses all came in the appropriate color; however, were way pricey and only 2 of them looked good on everyone. A couple of weeks later, I found some dresses online that I thought were way cute, over $100 less than the ones we tried on, and had the right fabric/color. The only problem was that they only have 3 stores in the country. My sister happened to be going to Boston (one of the three cities) that week and was able to get a last minute appointment to try on a bunch of dresses and take pictures. There were some seriously cute options, and they're all styles that are classic and won't be out of style by the time of the wedding.

I'm still conflicted about one thing, though. I prefer knee-length dresses. I think they're more fun, have a younger look, and just generally look cuter. However, everyone keeps telling me that because I'm planning for an evening wedding the dresses should be floor length. While they're still nice and all, I kinda feel like they're stuffier. Plus, given the color I'm looking at for the dresses, if they do actually want to reuse the dresses, the bridesmaids wouldn't have to pay the extra money to get them in floor length as well as to get them shortened after the wedding. In the end, I generally feel like the bridesmaids should choose the dress(es) because I want them to have input about what they will be wearing. But I always pictured knee-length dresses. Maybe I always pictured a daytime wedding and never realized it. Although, in late May there will still be daylight at 7 PM.

So can I have short dresses for an evening wedding that takes place during daylight? Seriously. I need help with this one. Pleeeeaassseeee comment/facebook/email/whatever me with your thoughts on this.

Thanks. :)

Fun times...!

So I'm taking a break from practicing for my practical tomorrow morning (accepting happy thoughts from everyone, by the way) to say how excited I am that Tim's sister, and my practically-already-sister, is engaged!! Congratulations to Kate and Kevin!!! They're such a great couple in addition to being wonderful people individually, and I couldn't possibly be more excited that not only am I going to officially become a part of their family but that we're also going to be planning one of the biggest days of our lives together! This very exciting and happy news definitely came at a good time, as school seems to be sucking every last ray of :) out of my life lately. It definitely helped to remind me that there is a life outside of MCG's School of Allied Health Sciences building. (To all my classmates reading this: Seriously. It exists. Just ask someone who's not in PT school... if you ever come across someone who's not in PT school...) As the next few days approach, I just need to do what I can and remember that this does not define me. School is a part of me, but not the whole of me. Happy things happen, and THAT is what I'm about. I've got a fiancé who I love more than anything, a great and supportive family (including Tim's family), amazing friends, a super adorable guinea pig and the cutest puppy ever. I don't know where I'd be without any one of them, and I'm so blessed to have them all in my life. And that is what is keeping me going. I'll do my best and live to fight another day because I have them standing with me just as I stand with them. No matter what.

Congratulations, again, Kate and Kevin!! :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :)..... (You get the picture. But in case you don't, here are a few pictures of some awesome people!)

It's finally March!

March is finally here. This means warmer weather, Spring Break around the corner, and the stressful nearing of the end of the semester. In wedding talk, however, it means I get to start the process of booking the church and setting an actual date for the wedding! I am so looking forward to being able to tell people an exact date, rather than a month we have in mind.

I've been getting the "How's wedding planning going?" question a lot in the last few weeks. The answer is: It's not. School has effectively executed a hostile takeover of my life. As I write this, I'm taking a break from editing a paper, writing another paper, working on a project, working on another project, and miscellaneous studying. It's really starting to pile up. What bothers me most about this, though, is that I know the quality of my work can't be the best because I'm having to divert attention from each item to accomplish all of them. Turning in mediocre work stresses me out. Hopefully, I'll find some time during the next couple of months to work on the wedding and spend time with friends. Having a life outside of MCG is pivotal to my sanity.

Here's hoping the next few months go off without a hitch!

I love my ring!

I realize this may be a little late, but I love my ring! It's perfect! And while it's sparkly and beautiful, the best part about it is how every time I look at it I remember everything about that night. My friends and family were there (some even drove in from out of town for what I thought was just a birthday party), we had gingerbread house stations, and even Voltron was dressed up! I look at my ring and I remember Jessica talking me into wearing a dress and heels, how everyone tried to get me to get my nails done that week but I didn't even repaint my nails, the engagement cake that appeared out of nowhere, the huge smile on my face that I couldn't get rid of for weeks, and I especially remember Tim and I going outside and everything he said and how oblivious I was to what was happening until he was down on one knee. I love that he put so much thought into making the evening as perfect as it was from beginning to end. I look at my ring and I smile every time. with every little step, we get closer to our wedding day; with all the stress that can come with planning a wedding (and dealing with school along the way), having something that can immediately take me back to that moment really helps to keep everything in perspective.

I'm so excited to get married and add a wedding band to which I can look as a constant reminder of that special day.